Situation: A company needs to generate more leads and increase new business closure rates to make plan. Their customers are primarily tech companies and they use advertising, trade shows and customer lists to develop leads. What advice do others have to help the company meet their objectives? How do you increase lead generation and motivate sales development?

Advice from the CEOs:

• Look closely at the definition of your market. Refine the definition of the market in light of new technology developments and opportunities. If necessary, rewrite the value proposition and the characterization of the company’s typical customer.
• Hire a Marketing Director to take charge of this effort.
• For each of key customer or key customer category, develop the important features and benefits that will appeal to that customer or group. Think, through their eyes, “what’s in it for me?”
• Focus on one or two areas where the company adds the best value. Don’t attempt to be all things to all people.
• Define the behaviors that will generate sales and inquiries. Assure that these are up to date with the market. Train or retrain your salespeople as necessary and manage those behaviors.
• Select and manage a sales process. If necessary seek outside help to develop this. Options include; Sales Solutions, Miller Heiman, and similar sales training companies.
• Use a wide array of resources to develop potential customer lists and to identify the needs of each of those customers:
  • Business partners
  • LinkedIn.com
  • Google Ads
  • Salesforce.com or Jigsaw
  • Webinars and Social Media

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